CASE STUDY: Google Image Traffic into Cash

Hello Warriors,

I just wanted to share a case study with the wonderful Warriors here. It's a bit long but I hope it will be of help to everyone.

Google Image traffic is usually seen as being BAD as it doesn't convert well (or doesn't convert at all) irrespective of whether you use AdSense or CPA ads.

After reading up on forums about this kind of traffic, I found out two things:
1. It brings in a LOT of traffic to a website or webpage
2. All those visitors do NOT click on any ads

About 2 months ago I got interested in testing the theory and see if I can get the traffic to convert at all.

So I setup a simple WordPress based website with SEO-ed images. These were basically wallpapers of a popular movie which had a dedicated fan-base. Using Google Keyword Suggestion Tool I found out some keywords that were getting a number of searches and so I used them to optimize my images.

For SEO, I paid attention to the Title, Meta Tags and Sitemap. I submitted the SiteMap to Google and Yahoo.

Stage 1: Initial Setup

The traffic started coming in pretty quickly. Within the first week, I was averaging 700 visitors per day - almost 98% of them from Google Images (measured using Google Analytics)

So, part 1 of the theory was right - it brings in a lot of traffic easily.

To begin with, I only put AdSense ads on all the pages of the site (total 4 pages, each with different wallpapers).

Here, the second part of the theory seemed to be true: the CTR for the ads SUCKED. It was as low as .04% to .1% every day.

I tried to improve the rate by changing ad locations, their size, color etc. Still, no luck.

So the theory was true: lot of traffic, but exteremly low CTR.

However, I wanted to know if it can be converted at all, say, using CPA.



Stage 2: Move to CPA Ads

I put up some related CPA ads that were selling toys and other things related to the movie. Still, no luck. The visitors weren't even clicking through. I tried all possible combinations of color and placement but it didn't materialize into clicks.

At this point, I realized something:
MAYBE, the ads are obscured due to the Google Image frame at the top when people come in through Google Image Search. They then just click the 'See full-size image' link, went directly to the image and downloaded it.

I found out that a JavaScript code would remove the frame but it gets you out of the search results pretty quick. I instead turned to a HTACCESS redirect which redirected the visitor to the actual page when they clicked the 'See full-size image' link.

BINGO, all my traffic was seeing the ads now.

The conversion still sucked but they at least showed an improvement.



Stage 3: List Building

AdSense and CPA both proved to be a bummer. So I decided to try getting them on my list.

I created an Aweber form and put it on the pages that were getting the most traffic (after removing any ads on those pages). They were placed right above the wallpaper image and had a different background color to get attention.

People ACTUALLY signed up on the simple promise of "updates and news" about the movie and more wallpapers. The conversion rate sucked but 2-5 sign ups a day was pretty decent I thought.

I changed the form into a lightbox hover pop-up and it got the sign ups to about 10 per day.

But at this time, I was getting 1500 visitors per day. So the conversion rate was really, really bad.

I put the project on the backburner for a while and the sign ups kept coming in. Then I had an A-HA moment while wondering why people don't sign up:

"Whatever the visitor wanted, was ALREADY on the site."

The wallpaper that the visitor wanted to download was already on the site and she could download it without bothering with signing up to my list.

Now I had to offer them a REASON to sign up.

My offer was: CONVENIENCE.

My site had over 100 wallpapers from the movie. When the visitor came, they downloaded 4-5 at max. I made a simple offer on the sign up form: Sign up and download ALL the wallpapers with a single click.

The conversion rate doubled! I got up to 20-25 sign ups every day.

I experimented with different headlines, text and button text and found out the following:

1. A simple headline like "WAIT!" or "STOP!" got their attention better than a longer one
2. When the button text was 'Continue', it converted 1% better than when it was 'Download' (maybe because "Download" meant some kind of risk such as a trojan etc. to the visitor or it just turned them off somehow).

All this was done using Aweber's built-in Split Test function for Web forms.



Stage 4: Making Money (Finally!)

I found that AdSense and CPA doesn't convert well at all and got people to sign up on my list. In the meanwhile, my site got a PR 1 in less than a month! I was bowled over.

Now, the final test: will the list make me money?

I figured that sending them something related to the movie is my best bet.

I did a simple broadcast. I sent them a simple email with a link to a page on my site that contained a trailer of the film (the trailer is awesome btw)

The page was formatted such that it followed my WordPress template. It had the video trailer in the center and only AdSense ads at the bottom.

So there were only two things someone could do after watching the trailer:
Click on the Ads OR Close the Window.

(this particular idea comes from a fellow Warrior's post about setting up a similar page but I forget his name)

Thankfully, they clicked on the ads and IT WORKED!

Google Image Traffic was actually paying me money, albeit indirectly. I experimented with the broadcast subject line too using Aweber's handy split test function for messages. Both subject lines contained the name of the movie and almost had the same open rates.

But I got a lot of spam complaints too. Obviously, because the list of single opt-in. For a week, I made the list double opt-in and the number of confirmed visitors dropped to about 5 per day again.

So, I changed back to single opt in, but on the download page for wallpapers, I restated that I will be sending more emails and in the broadcasts from then on, I put this at the top of the email:

"You are receiving this email because you signed up to receive updates from MySiteName"

That brought the spam complaints down to .01%.

The site's doing well as the movie release comes closer with about 1700 visitors per day (unique). I might just as well sell it

So there is my 'small' case study. If I had to summarize it, here's what I'd say about Google Image traffic and exploiting it:

1. Make your site FOR Google Image Traffic only. A generic blog that gets image traffic won't give you the same results
2. Try to get them on your list - use a lightbox hover, it converts VERY WELL.
3. Use split tests to find which form, broadcast headlines etc convert well - testing goes a long way in figuring out what works.

VERDICT (aka my opinion)
Google Image Traffic can be converted into Cold Hard Cash.

In the future, I'm going to see if these people can actually pay me money for 'make money' products. Maybe I'll do a survey asking them what they want to see more of. But all that's for later.

Hope this helps.